Heaven and Hell: The Portable New Century Edition

222 HEAVEN and HELL §386

a. The Lord’s kingdom is a kingdom of uses: 453 [ 454 ], 696 , 1103 , 3645 , 4054 , 7038. Serving the

Lord is being useful: 7038. Everyone needs to be useful in the other life: 1103 ; even evil and hellish

people, but in a different manner: 696. Everyone’s quality is determined by the use that individ-

ual fulfi lls: 4054 , 6815 ; with examples: 7038. Angelic blessedness consists of good, thoughtful

deeds, and therefore of fulfi lling uses: 454.

On the other hand, the path of adultery led toward hell, step by step

to the very lowest where there is nothing that is not grim and terrifying.

This is the kind of fate that awaits adulterers after their life in the world.

By “adulterers,” we mean people who fi nd pleasure in acts of adultery

and not in marriage.

What Angels Do in Heaven

387
T

HERE is no way to list all the functions that people have in the

heavens or to describe them in detail, though it is possible to say

something on the subject in general terms; they are innumerable and

vary depending on the roles of the communities as well. In fact, each

community plays a unique role, since the communities differ depending

on their virtues (see above, § 41 ) and therefore on their function. This is

because virtues for everyone in the heavens are virtues in act, which are

functions. Everyone there does something specifi cally useful, for the

Lord’s kingdom is a kingdom of uses.a

388 There are many services in the heavens just as there are on earth, since

there are ecclesiastical, civic, and domestic affairs there. The existence of

the ecclesiastical ones follows from what was presented above about divine

worship in §§ 221 – 227 , the existence of civic ones from what was presented

about forms of government in heaven in §§ 213 – 220 , while the existence of

domestic ones follows from the material on angels’ homes and houses

(§§ 183 – 190 ) and on marriages in heaven (§§ 366 – 386 ). We can therefore see

that the roles and services in any given heavenly community are multiple.

389 Everything in the heavens is arranged according to the divine design,
which is managed everywhere by the oversight of angels, the wiser ones
tending to matters of the common good or use and the less wise to